When Mr. Darcy returned to Netherfield he was met with a disorganized Charles Bingley of a sort Mr. Darcy had not seen since their first year at Cambridge together. Tomorrow was going to be the day and Mr. Bingley was going to ask for Jane's hand in marriage first thing in the morning. This pleased Mr. Darcy immensely because he was sure that it would open the door for his own proposal but first he wanted to test out the waters. He was not so much of a gentleman that he was willing to take a whole lot of disappointment. So he was taking the easy way out and sending in a messenger to test out the waters. His choice in messengers might seem a bit odd but his plan was too delicate to trust to just anyone. He chose one of his own relations who conveniently had an acquaintance with Miss Elizabeth Bennet. He just wished he wasn't so much of a coward to stay in the carriage while the meeting went on first thing tomorrow would decide his future.

The next morning Miss Jane Bennet was getting dressed slowly as was her custom when her mother burst into her room, which was a surprise in itself because her mother had been so focused on getting Lydia and Kitty out in society again so they could marry well that she had practically forgotten about her other two daughters. Her mother shouted about how Mr. Bingley was coming on horseback alone and that Jane must immediately dress so she was ready to meet him. Unfortunately their father was in the breakfast room so in protest Lydia wasn't coming out of her room and Kitty was staying as far out of the way as possible so that she didn't incur her father's displeasure by acting out while he was already in a ill mood because of the constant fights with their mother.

The proposal went as planned and Miss Jane Bennet was so pleased with the proposal that she said yes immediately and then after letting the fact sink in that she was engaged to Mr. Bingley for a few minutes while staring into her fiancée's eyes she then encouraged him to go and speak with her father who was now in his study with his morning coffee. Jane immediately shared her joy with her sister Elizabeth who was so pleased with her sister's happy state that had not been seen since before Mr. Bingley had left in late November last year. Mrs. Bennet then rushed into the room shrieking with happiness and then with displeasure as she was forced to wait for Mr. Bingley and Mr. Bennet to finish talking before Mr. Bennet could call for the carriage to take her into town so she could tell everyone about her daughter's engagement to a wealthy young man who has five thousand a year and a beautiful estate in Hertfordshire. While listening at the door she heard Mr. Bennet give his consent and then she backed away slightly so she could smile at Mr. Bingley before he left Longbourn to announce his engagement to his friends and relatives.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet had an interesting guest, she was still confused with how Lady Catherine deBourg got her address in Hertfordshire but it was a discussion that was finally over. Lady Catherine had come by and told her explicitly that Mr. Darcy was engaged to her daughter and that she had no hope of marrying him. She didn't deny that she wanted to marry him or that a proposal would be unwelcome. This enraged the great lady and she left the estate in quite the furious state. What Elizabeth didn't know was that Lady Catherine left the house and directly went to Mr. Darcy to tell that she didn't refuse not to agree to marry him and that he deserved someone who wouldn't just bow down to his every desire. The woman was perfectly stubborn and would keep him on his toes for the rest of his life.

She then got into her carriage and left for London where she was meeting her sister to do some dress shopping; after all she was practically Mr. Darcy's closest relation and had to be one of the best dressed women in the church when they wed. Her daughter Anne also needed a very expensive dress to attend the wedding in since her health had improved over the summer she was traveling more and would be well enough to attend the wedding. Lady Catherine also despite all appearances just wanted her nephew to be happy and she planned to give him a splendid gift for his wedding. She was planning on hiring one of the most expensive dress designers in London to make wedding dresses for the Bennet sisters and she was even paying the man and his staff to set up shop in a building in town so that it was very convenient for the sisters to enjoy their wedding gifts from Lady Catherine deBourg.

Mr. Darcy was elated by the report that Miss Elizabeth Bennet would be open to his proposal, since Mr. Bingley successfully proposed to Miss Jane Bennet and received consent from her father just this morning he'd had plenty of time to plan his method of attack. Mr. Bingley was in his carriage coming down the lane and together they would ask the Bennet sisters if they'd like to go for a walk to Meryton. While walking Mr. Darcy would ask for her hand in marriage and her answer would either make him the luckiest man in England or force him into a life of bachelorhood where he had to make do finding a good match for his sister and then spending the rest of his life hiding at Pemberley.

Also since he had paid the goldsmith in Meryton a generous fee for making the jewelry early he had a beautiful gold and sapphire bracelet to give to Miss Bennet as a celebration of her engagement to Mr. Bingley with him in the carriage. He also had the delicate gold and sapphire necklace with a few large diamonds in it that had been completely for his bride-to-be or his sister if the only woman he ever wanted to marry refused him. He may have been a confident man but being refused once was enough to make him want to avoid a second rejection. He held the necklace in his hands for a moment for strength and then he placed in back into the box beneath the seat and grabbed his hat before exiting the carriage to meet his friend Mr. Bingley.

The two gentlemen walked together to the door and knocked before being admitted into the house and leaving with the two eldest daughters to go on a nice walk to Meryton. Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth hung back a bit so they could speak in private; Miss Bennet started the conversation by apologizing to Mr. Darcy about what she said at Rosings. He accepted her apology with an admission that he deserved all she said to him and that it was because of her that he was able to change himself into a better person. In fact he owed her an apology for his rudeness and interference in Jane and Bingley's romance it was none of his business and he should never have gotten involved. She accepted his apology and they walked in silence for a few minutes before he commented that Lady Catherine had spoken to him and had indeed spoken highly of her. In her shock Elizabeth could barely find the words that would express adequately what she was feeling. She commented that she believed that Lady Catherine was no longer fond of her because she would not give the lady the promises that the Lady desired. Mr. Darcy took a moment to laugh before he reassured her.

Lady Catherine was so pleased with her stubbornness and intelligence that she actually gave her consent for him to ask her a very important question. Elizabeth gasped as Mr. Darcy asked for her hand in marriage and almost felt faint as she accepted his proposal. The newly engaged couple continued to walk in silence to town and spent a few moments there looking at books until Jane and Mr. Bingley had finished being congratulated on their new engagement. On the way back to Longbourn to drop the ladies off Elizabeth asked when Mr. Darcy was going to ask her father for his consent. He mentioned that he planned to ask for her father's consent as soon as they arrived back at the house. He also asked her to stay close to the door because he was positive that her father would wish to know if she really wanted to marry him or if he'd even asked for her hand.

When they arrived at the house Mr. Darcy went directly to Mr. Bennet's study to speak with the man himself. He was unable to go directly into the room because of the fight that was concluding between Mr. And Mrs. Bennet. The scraps of conversation that he heard involved Mrs. Bennet screeches about allowing Lydia and Kitty to go to the Philips house for dinner and cards that evening and Mr. Bennet refusing to leave the house. He was determined not to allow Lydia and Kitty the opportunity to wear down his resolve. After all even though he only set the new rules a week ago he was worried that even giving them a bit of access to society this early in the process would do more harm than good. The girls had obviously shown that they could not handle being without supervision and he was unsure how much supervision he would be able to give them in society. On the other hand the reduced allowances that he was now giving them was curbing their urge to go outside and expose themselves in public.

Kitty was definitely taking to the changes better than Lydia was of course Lydia had always been the ringleader and much more wild while Kitty was just trying to keep up. Lydia was still refusing to leave her room unless she had to and all Mr. Bennet had to do at the moment was wait until her spirit broke. He finally told Mrs. Bennet that if she had just done her job from the beginning with their three youngest children then he would not have to step in and put the whole household on stricter rules and a strict budget. She looked scandalized and when she heard the knock on the door she went to the door to look for someone to support her cause and was surprised when Mr. Darcy was standing there asking for an audience with Mr. Bennet.

She was so surprised that when Mr. Bennet granted the audience she left the room without protest or without telling her husband that they would be discussing his accusations at another date. Mr. Bennet thanked Mr. Darcy for being the chaperone for Jane and Mr. Bingley while they were walking to Meryton and then he commented that he was surprised that Mr. Darcy was willing to spend his time as a chaperone. Mr. Darcy admitted that he did have an ulterior motive for accompanying Jane and Mr. Bingley and that was to ask Elizabeth for her hand in marriage. While Mr. Bennet was shocked by the man's forwardness Mr. Darcy continued by saying that he was madly in love with Elizabeth and nothing would make him happier than for Mr. Bennet to give his consent for their marriage. Mr. Bennet regained his voice and gave his consent for Mr. Darcy to marry Elizabeth as long as she came in and spoke to him herself. This was exactly what Mr. Darcy expected and he was quite pleased that Mr. Bennet cared so much about his daughter that even though a very wealthy man was asking for her hand in marriage that her happiness is the most important aspect in giving his consent. Mr. Darcy thanked him for his consent and agreed to send Elizabeth into the study.

When this action was completed Elizabeth stood in her father's study and tried not to blush as her father asked her if she did want to marry Mr. Darcy. When she told him that she was very honored by Mr. Darcy's proposal and wanted nothing more to be his wife Mr. Bennet looked at his favorite daughter and told her that her happiness was all that mattered to him. He took his little girl in his arms when a single tear of happiness rolled down her cheek he wiped it away with his handkerchief. Then he told her that she should probably go out to her fiancée and find the courage to tell her mother that she was getting married to one of the richest men in England, he enjoyed watching as her already pale skin lose a bit of color as she realized what she had just gotten herself into. She quickly left to rescue Mr. Darcy before her father came out himself to announce that now he had two daughters who were engaged, more specifically he wanted to see the look on his wife's face when she realized that Lizzy had made a more fortunate match then Jane did.

He even went so far to call all of his daughters to the drawing room for the announcement, he even allowed himself a bit of enjoyment by making his wife wait for his news. When all of his daughters arrived, Lydia took a bit of convincing since her spirit was not quite broken yet; Mr. Bennet made the announcement that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth were engaged to be married. Unfortunately he was so busy enjoying this moment that it was left to Mr. Darcy to leap forward and catch Mrs. Bennet as she slipped to the floor. Mr. Bennet then stepped forward and carried his wife to her room after offering his congratulations to the two happy couples. After a dose of her smelling salts and a quick cup of tea Mrs. Bennet was up and demanding the carriage so she could announce to the neighborhood about the match her new favorite daughter had made.

The shopkeepers in Meryton might not have thought that it was such a great match until the rumors started that Mr. Wickham had left large debts after all the shopkeepers in Meryton had finally been contacted by Colonel Fitzwilliam and asked to give an accounting of how much credit Mr. Wickham had been extended by them. They would later get together and come to the conclusion that between the shopkeepers of Brighton and of Meryton Mr. Wickham owed almost three thousand pounds of debt to different businesses. That was more money than any Lieutenant made in five years of active duty in the militia, not even a Lieutenant in the regulars made enough money to pay off of all the debts that Mr. Wickham had accumulated even in Meryton. This got the rest of the town talking and they realized that Mr. Wickham also owed money to taverns and inns for furniture broken and he also had quite the reputation for seducing the young daughters of the merchants in Meryton.

The attitude against Wickham became so venomous that on one of her very rare outings, almost two months after the engagements had been announced to the public, to Meryton to be fitting for her bridesmaid gown when Lydia made a comment about how Mr. Wickham was going to return to sweep her off her feet the dressmaker almost threw her out of her store. Mr. Wickham had taken advantage of her daughter and the dressmaker went as far as to tell Mr. Bennet that no one in Meryton wanted to hear that name again and that Lydia would no longer be welcome in her store if she ever mentioned the name again.

Mr. Bennet thanked her for her concern and told her that the man's name would never be mentioned again. After the fitting Mr. Bennet took Lydia aside and told her that Mr. Wickham's name would never be mentioned again and if it were mentioned again then Lydia would be sent to live in a nunnery for at least six months. Mr. Wickham left a significant amount of debt in Meryton and Brighton that if she did marry Mr. Wickham then she would never be able to travel to either of the towns ever again. He also mentioned that if that happened then the ability of her visiting so she could show off her husband and tell all of her sister's about married life would be impossible. Lydia's face fell and she was uncharacteristically quiet all the way back to Longbourn and Mr. Bennet finally knew that the time had finally come. He had finally broke Lydia's wild spirit and it would now be possible to allow her more access to society and hopefully to get her married. Although to make sure he would not extend her privileges until after the joint wedding in late November.

Meanwhile Mr. And Mrs. Gardiner were shocked to hear that Mr. Gardiner's new silent business partner was also going to be their nephew in a few months. Mr. Gardiner even went as far as to ask Mr. Darcy if that had been his plan all along when he first entered his shop earlier in the month. Mr. Darcy admitted that it was not his design until he realized who the couple that owned the shop were and then he felt comfortable investing a large amount of money in a business venture with such risk because he trusted that any relations of Elizabeth's would not cheat him and that they would also work as hard as they possibly could to make the venture a success. Mr. Gardiner thanked Mr. Darcy for his faith in his character and mentioned that they would have to plan a little tour of the lake country since the trip they planned with Elizabeth had been cancelled just a few weeks previous.

Mr. Darcy was very quick to offer to send a large carriage for the entire family and even offered that their children could stay at Pemberley during the vacation since he was sure that Georgiana would love to take care of some young children and he had an excellent staff that was very trustworthy and would be honored to watch the children while they were on vacation. Again Mr. Gardiner was shocked that a man that had a reputation of being cold and distant was willing to open his home to his future wife's relations before the marriage had even taken place and told Mr. Darcy that they would be honored to take up the invitation and would have to plan it for after the next shipment of jewels came in from Africa. Mr. Gardiner also asked his business partner; quietly of course since the Bennets were still unaware that Mr. Darcy was an investor, if he knew of any good goldsmiths in London so they could set the stones that were coming for sale to the higher end market.

Mr. Darcy immediately got the card of a goldsmith that he had experience with since his family had used them for decades. The goldsmith did excellent work and demanded top price and with this new venture supplying top quality and rare stones another partnership could be created on the sales end so Mr. Gardiner wouldn't be required to raise his young family in London. It was very possible that they would be able to buy a small estate in the future and keep the house on Grace Church Street for when they visited town on business. Mr. Gardiner demanded that Mr. Darcy tell everyone that he was now an investor in the business but Mr. Darcy told him that the last thing he wanted was to have Elizabeth's gratitude before the wedding. He would be pleased to tell her after they were married that he was engaged in some trade deals with her family members.

Another surprise that sent Mrs. Bennet into a very intense fit of nerves it was the arrival of a very expensive wedding dress designer to make the dresses for both Jane and Lizzy as a wedding gift from the amazing very wonderful Lady Catherine deBourg. It took a few sips of whiskey, which in itself showed how serious this was since Mrs. Bennet never took anything stronger than punch served at a ball or assembly, but Mrs. Bennet got back on her feet and order a carriage to go to Meryton and tell everyone that she met that her daughters were going to have the best wedding that Hertfordshire had ever seen. Mr. Bennet had once again started retreating to his study but he had very few things to worry about now since he had the household on a budget and his youngest girls were starting to behave like proper young ladies. In fact the house was so relaxed that the only person that raised their voices anymore was occasionally Mrs. Bennet and that was usually in joy since the past few months had been an occasion that was not likely to repeat itself.

In fact there was talk of the entire remaining family taking a trip to Brighton, after the officers had left of course, to spend between six and eight weeks renting a house and spending a lovely family vacation that was not possible when their daughters were out of control and spending way too much money on trinkets. Mr. Bennet was quite proud of his little family; his eldest two daughters had a beautiful wedding that was full of very wealthy people including several earls and some very influential people that came to witness the nuptials between a member of their family and a country girl that he would later learn had been praised to the skies by Lady Catherine deBourg and all of Darcy's relations were eager to meet the new Mistress of Pemberley and see who Mr. Darcy had chosen to spend the rest of his life with.

The family had started to despair of Darcy ever marrying and making them wait for Georgiana to finally marry so that there would be some children at Pemberley but they were very surprised and proud of Darcy for his choice in a wife. If Lady Catherine deBourg loved this little country girl with a very small dowry then obviously she was going to make their lives much more interesting. Both brides walked down the aisle wearing the sapphire jewelry that Darcy had custom made for them months earlier that he eventually gave to the women after he found the jewels in his carriage that he had forgotten in the excitement. After seeing the jewels Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner were shocked to see that Mr. Darcy had done what they had wished and had the jewels set for their niece's weddings as they had hoped but had never mentioned out loud. This was a question, that when they had spoken just after the engagement, that had never come up and it pleased the couple immensely although they did not expect Mr. Darcy to give the smaller of the sapphires to Jane in a beautifully crafted bracelet.

They were honored that he would give a gift to his future sister that was of such value but they assumed that a man as wealthy as Mr. Darcy was used to giving expensive gifts to the people that he cared about. They watched as their favorite nieces married to men of high standing that practically worshipped the ground they walked on and would do anything to make them happy. A lot of people were not sure how to understand why someone as vibrant as Elizabeth Bennet chose a man who, although wealthy, did not seem to have any intense emotion for Miss Bennet. Little did they know that Mr. Darcy was madly in love with Elizabeth he was just so used to hiding all of his feelings to keep away from giving the wrong impression to any of the woman of the ton. The mothers were as dangerous as the daughters because of the political influences they held over their husbands, Darcy had feared the day that the fathers would start pressuring him to marry one of their daughters.

Fortunately his marriage to Elizabeth had the alternative motive of getting rid of all of the pressure that he had been feeling over the past year as his wealth had increased drastically. This drastic increase was the two estate purchases a year that he had been making around England since there were many old families that had gotten deeply in debt. With some slight management the estates were starting to make a profit and he was investing the profit in new business ventures. These successful purchases were what allowed Mr. Darcy to invest ten thousand pounds at will in a future relations business.

Mr. Darcy stared at his bride as she said her vows; he had finally gotten everything that he had wanted. He had his bride, whom his sister adored and could look up to, and who he could spend the rest of his life with. Elizabeth looked over at her new husband as he took her arm and they left the Longbourn church for the long ride in the carriage to their London townhouse where they would stay for few days giving them enough time to purchase an entirely new wardrobe for Mrs. Darcy and for them to get used to the idea of being man and wife.

And as the story goes … they lived happily ever after.

Now you might all be wondering about my interpretation of Lady Catherine deBourg. Firstly it's not my interpretation in 1940 there was a movie made of Pride and Prejudice starring Lawrence Olivier that took this stance. To be honest this is the only part of that rendition that I liked because it did not even include a trip to Pemberley where I am convinced Elizabeth and Darcy finally admitted to themselves that they were in love. Now in my particular story they do not manage to meet at Pemberley but I couldn't have him as the agent of Lydia's salvation if he was so far away. Also there was no point for Elizabeth to travel to Pemberley if Darcy wasn't going to be there so as a result I had to skip that portion.

I hope you enjoyed this story it is something that I have been working on for several weeks and you will notice that there is no dialogue for the entirety of the story. When I tried to put in dialogue I was concerned about the difficulty of keeping everyone in character. So after 19 ½ pages I have completed my second story without dialogue.

Please R&R this is probably my greatest work so far. Keep in mind as well that I am working on a story called Wishful Thinking: The Baby in the Stargate SG-1 section and although I have updated in months I do have two chapters that are almost ready to be posted so it is just a matter of time.